Saudi Arabia, May 24,2024- Human rights advocates are urging FIFA to pay close attention to the status of human rights in Saudi Arabia before granting the Saudi bid for the 2034 World Cup. According to the experts, Mark Pieth, Stefan Wehrenberg, and Rodney Dixon, FIFA still needs to address the matter fully concerning Saudi Arabia to fulfill international human rights standards as required by FIFA policy since 2017 for hosts countries.
They raise issues about the degree of freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia, the political status of prisoners and migrant workers and restrictive laws on women’s autonomy including those on male guardian ship. As the Vision 2030 plan continues to promote the modernization of Saudi Arabia, critics still question the kingdom’s human rights record- specifically in regards to dissenting individuals and activists.
More Read
Since Saudi Arabia is the only candidate for the World Cup in 2034, FIFA stands before a big dilemma. The advocates argue that FIFA, as a global sports organization, should actively promote the compliance with the standards defined by Harvard University professor John Ruggie in the developed policy. They appeal to FIFA to involve external consultants and make the evaluation process as public as possible to maintain the high merit of the selection of the World Cup.
As FIFA looks forward to the confirmation of the bids in December, the question arises to how the organization may deal with these human rights issues and ensure it follows ethical standards when choosing the host countries. Such scrutiny might have significant reverberations for future FIFA-related decisions and for the debate on human rights in international sports competitions.
